Duchene, O'Reilly Staying With Avalanche

While in the midst of a youth movement, it appears the Colorado Avalanche have something going. After a disastrous 2008-2009 season that led to what was nearly a full housecleaning in Denver, the organization picked up two bright young players early in the June draft.

Those players -- Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly -- were thought to be big pieces of the future. Instead, the pair represent the club's future, too.

Duchene was Colorado's first-round pick, third overall. It's really no surprise that he wasn't sent back to his Canadian junior team before the season started, and it also doesn't register as a shock to hear that Duchene will be sticking with the Avalanche and not returning to the Brampton Battalion.

He won the job as the second-line center for the Avalanche, and he scored his first career NHL goal in the Avs' shootout win over Detroit Saturday. The teenager is averaging almost 17 minutes of ice time per game, and he's acquitted himself quite nicely with the veterans on the club.

"His computer," (defenseman Brett) Clark said. "In the room, he's pretty much got the laptop open all the time, propped up in bed, headphones on. But he's a pretty amazing kid. He's just all hockey, but he's smart with other things too. He was showing me some of the designs he's made, like the high school team logo he came up with, and it's pretty unbelievable."

O'Reilly was a bit of a longshot to make the team in training camp, and there were likely some who didn't think he had a chance to stick. However, the Avalanche are keeping him around, too. It makes sense. He's over 14 minutes per game, already has six points, and is so responsible defensively that he's become a trusted penalty killer. He leads all Colorado forwards in plus-minus (plus-five).

In case you're wondering, because both players had major junior eligibility remaining, the Avalanche had a decision to make.

According to NHL rules, if a player with junior eligibility remaining plays 10 NHL games, the first year of his entry-level contract goes into effect. The Avalanche still would be able to send Duchene back to his junior club, but that's unlikely due to his contract status and the fact that they wouldn't be able to recall him until Brampton's season was over.

(The same rules applied to O'Reilly, whose rights were owned by the Erie Otters.)

There may be some in the hockey world who criticize the organization for burning the first year of the youngsters' entry-level deals. For a rebuilding team that is off to a surprising start, however, this is much more of a no-brainer than you might think. The team gains nothing out of using marginal players to fill the roles Duchene and O'Reilly have been playing.

Instead, the kids will get better because they're getting real minutes in NHL games.